New Chums Beach & Coromandel Town

My original plan was to stay 2 nights in Whitianga and 2 nights in Coromandel Town, but after seeing how much more was going on in Whitianga I decided to just stay there. I did however want to take a drive up to the north of the peninsula and see what it was like.

Per the advice of a couple different locals, I stopped over at New Chums Beach on my way up the peninsula, and boy was I glad I did! It is apparently one of the nicest beaches (in the world so I am told… I don’t know if that’s true or not). It was a bit of an adventure getting there, since the road map wasn’t very clear, and the path out to the beach is pretty much unmarked. A couple of women also going to the beach & I started walking together and had a bit of trouble finding the trail… When we finally arrived we were the first ones on the beach! The sun, the sand, all of it for us! J 

New Chums Beach

After a few people came and went, I was the only one on the beach for a little while, which was an amazing and welcome contrast to the hordes of people all crammed together at hot water beach. I worked on my tan, read a book, and played making shapes in the sand with all the shells. When I finally decided to more on, tons of people started showing up. I guess I had perfect timing! :P

So many kinds of shells on New Chums!

Amazing white sand on the beach neighboring New Chums

After another short, twisty drive up the peninsula I arrived at Coromandel Town. It was much quainter than Whitianga, and more what I had been expecting. (Whitianga has a huge supermarket, a couple box stores and a clearly defined “town center” as opposed to Coromandel, which has a small post office, and about 2 blocks of shops making up its “town center.”) There were a few cafés so I chose a busy one, assuming that busy means it’s good… unfortunately that wasn’t the case… or maybe my taste in coffee has just been spoiled by all the good cafes in Wellington.

Coromandel (from scenic view up the hill from town)

In the evening I again enjoyed a nice walk along the beach before the wind and rain came, and watched the Kiwi movie “Boy” with some people in the hostel.

One more day in Whitianga…